\n I\u2019m hoping to go on a girls\u2019 trip with some of my friends later in the year, but the idea has been met with some negativity from my family, mainly because my little one\u2019s birthday would fall when I\u2019m away.\n <\/p>\n
\n For the last few years, a group of us has headed away for a few days to catch up and relax. We all grew up in the same area and have all known each other since we were kids. These days, we\u2019re all in different parts of the world, and at different stages of life, so planning these trips is no mean feat!\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
\n One of the group found a great deal for an all-inclusive resort for a few days toward the end of the summer season. The location and resort ticked a lot of boxes, and the date seemed to suit everyone, so we booked it.\n <\/p>\n
\n Our daughter will be turning one the day before I would be due to come home. I figured we could mark her birthday either the weekend before I go, or after I come back. But not everyone agrees.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
\n Some family members have said I shouldn\u2019t even be thinking of going away near her birthday. My sister says I don\u2019t realise it yet, but I will regret being away. I know it\u2019s an important milestone, but in all honestly, she\u2019s not going to remember it. My other half is fully supportive of me going, and my mum says the break is a good thing.\n <\/p>\n
\n But now, I\u2019m worried what people will think if I do go, or if I will regret being away from her on the day? While I\u2019ve paid my deposit, I could back out, but I don\u2019t want to ruin the trip for everyone else.\n <\/p>\n
One thing I\u2019ve learned over the past few years, and especially since I got married and the young fella has come along, is that it is so important to have your friends outside the family unit.<\/p>\n
There is nothing selfish, or whatever people want to call it, by going out regularly with your friends.<\/p>\n
The person who knows this the most should be your partner. Do you know why? Because they can see the benefits. I know some of you reading this have partners who don\u2019t see this, though. Your partner sees how important this trip is to you and is delighted for you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a man, I\u2019m thinking of the brownie points he is building up, and when it\u2019s his turn, and he says he is off golfing, or to Vegas with the lads, you will be happy for him too.<\/p>\n
This is the way the world works, and in my eyes, it is a very healthy relationship.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s obvious from that last paragraph what camp I\u2019m in. Yes, you should definitely go on this trip. When you look at it, you have all the important people in your life telling you to do so.<\/p>\n
Along with that, your friends are scattered all over the world. We all know how hard it is to get people who are in the same town to meet, not to mind when your friends are spread further. It\u2019s great that you all love coming together, and it shows how important you all are to each other.<\/p>\n
\n Friends like that are hard to come by. It\u2019s like the stars aligned when all of you could do the dates for this trip, which to me is another sign to go.\n <\/p>\n
Not to mention that on top of this, you all got a good price for the holiday; we don\u2019t have to remind anyone there is a cost-of-living crisis at the moment, and good value needs to be pounced upon. Other people might say that is a good reason to stay at home, but not me, life is too short!<\/p>\n
So, your sister thinks otherwise, and like everyone who reads this, she is entitled to her opinion. I don\u2019t buy this \u201cyou don\u2019t know it yet, and you\u2019ll regret it\u201d craic. She sounds a bit jealous to me that she isn\u2019t going anywhere. I\u2019d love to know if you even asked for her opinion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Let me be clear; it has nothing to do with her. I\u2019m getting a hint of \u201cyou\u2019re a bad mother if you go on this trip\u201d from her, and I really don\u2019t like that. She should stay out of it.<\/p>\n
The reality is that yes, the first birthday is a big milestone, but after all, two days later it will only be a memory and pictures, and if those pictures are taken the day after the birthday itself, it doesn\u2019t matter. What matters is the people in the photos love and care for each other. It\u2019s about the three of you and nobody else. If this seed of doubt wasn\u2019t set, you probably wouldn\u2019t even be thinking about this and writing to me.<\/p>\n
To be sure, do have a think about it, chat to your partner, and make sure you won\u2019t feel bad about this. I think you\u2019re looking for a little bit of reassurance here, and you should get it from home, too. What this will really do is stop you from over-thinking while you\u2019re away on the holiday \u2014 because if you\u2019re thinking about this all the time, it could ruin the whole thing, and we don\u2019t want that!<\/p>\n
When I read this for the first time last night, I remembered two of my friends who are no longer with us and how I\u2019d love to be going away with them for a few days. It also reminded me of the great times we had away, and that\u2019s what you\u2019ll be doing too, making more memories with good friends.<\/p>\n
There will be times in the future when you might not be able to get away, or God forbid one year you\u2019ll be one person down, and you\u2019ll think of all the good times. That\u2019s why you should make this trip a really special one, and also one to remember.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re a day late for the first birthday, make it count.<\/p>\n
The last bit of advice I have is to tell everyone you\u2019re going \u2014 do it today and start getting excited about it.<\/p>\n
That, for me, is part of the whole experience, the excitement beforehand and the build-up. If your sister still wants to be giving advice, shut her down straight away and tell her the decision is made and you heard her the first time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019m hoping to go on a girls\u2019 trip with some of my friends later in the year, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[65402,93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-394824","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-dear-daithi","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}